Tired of Failure
by ferret gt500
Summary: Frustrated with their continued failed attempts on the turtles, a distraught Shredder and a Krang gone mad go their separate ways...
1. Chapter 1

TMNT

1988

SEASON 1 – EPISODE 1 "Tired of failure"

Shredder skulked in his Command Deck, staring hopelessly at the ruptured viewscreen. Everything in Krang's technodrome was going wrong. _His _technodrome, Shredder reminded himself. Krang had long ago withdrawn into his laboratory, ever since that fateful day when the Turtles had rammed their Van into his exosuit. Shredder sighed and shook his head, rattling his rusty helmet. Everything from that point on had gone wrong. Krang had refused to come out of his laboratory until his body was repaired. He had sent Bebop and Rocksteady running back and forth from the storage room getting supplies. But the exosuit had proved beyond repair, and it had been months since Krang had left his lab. He would dissolve in fits of fury, and his angry wails of wrath would be heard all over the technodrome. The technodrome. Shredder remembered when a few weeks after Krang's body had been destroyed he, Shredder, had driven the technodrome onto earth and had launched a full assault on the turtles. He had destroyed their lair and had captured on of the turtles, Donatello. Oh that had been a great day! Shredder remembered how the shellback's screams had sung him to sleep like a lullaby as the turtle was being tortured. But that victory did not last. The turtle had escaped, opened a portal into dimension X, and blown p the Technodrome's fuel cells, sending it through the portal in a mayhem of flames and blaze. Nothing had ever worked after that, and the technodrome had lost most of its potency. Now it was just a junk heap, a tomb encasing its tenants forever. Shredder had thought about leaving, but where could he go. Where could any of them go? Shredder felt complete hopelessness, not for the first time, and then a smoldering rage against the turtles. The tables would turn one day, and then watch out mutants! It would be in these moments Shredder would stride up and down the Technodrome's hallways, contemplating strategies that would never leave the drawing board.

Suddenly Shredder's thoughts were cut off by a wail from Krang' s Lab.  
Another fit. Shredder stomped across the command deck to Krang's Laboratory.  
The lights were all out, and the only illumination was a single candle that threw everything into shadow. From what could be seen, the laboratory was a mess. Soot and fire stains coated the top of Krang's work desk, and pieces of tangled wires and machinery were scattered all around a stretcher upon which Krang's Android body lay disassembled. The walls and floor were stained with month old moldy Raisin Brain, as if Krang had thrown his cereal in a paroxysm of fury.  
"Ruined!" The brain gurgled, his back to Shredder, slapping a wet tentacle against his ex-exosuit. "RUINED!!" The brain threw his face to the ceiling and wailed.  
A roof tile fell off the roof and hit the brain on the head. Krang whimpered and began to cry piteously. Shredder cleared his throat.

Noticing Shredder for the first time Krang turned his splotchy pink face to Shredder. His eyes were red with hatred.   
"Shredder! You must help me have my revenge on the turtles!" He hissed, his face turning purple as it did when he was angry.  
Shredder sighed. He had been through this with Krang before.  
"Krang, we all want revenge on the turtles. But we can't do it without engine power! Our plasma cells are completely destroyed, and we're running off diesel power!" As if vegetable oil will mobilize the technodrome Shredder thought.  
"You Know how hard it is to get Bebop and Rocksteady to farm for the Technodrome's vegetables! We can barely produce enough surplus power to run monthly radio-scans for a sign of General Traag, and that alone is running us dry! Ever since you-"  
Shredder stopped. Every time he thought of the period after they had been blown into Dimension X and Krang had dumped all the excess plasma they had managed to salvage into trying to revive his body he wanted to grab the brain and shake him.  
_Count to ten_ he told himself _1-2-3…_  
It would accomplish nothing to yell at Krang. Even a small rebuke these days would make him cower and cover his eyes with his tentacles and wail incessantly  
"I have no need for General Traag." Krang burbled. "I have found a… way to traverse dimensions!"  
This time Shredder really did grab Krang by the shoulders and shake him. "How Krang, How?! You must tell me! I must have revenge on the turtles!" He couldn't explain it. He felt a need to destroy the turtles, to eliminate them. Even as Krang opened his mouth to respond, Shredder mused:  
_Is my hatred for the turtles simply an inner darkness within myself? I have to direct it at something, yet when that object of my hatred is gone, my hatred stays to consume me?_ Krang was saying something, but Shredder couldn't listen. Because in a doorway behind Krang Rocksteady was running to him, yelling.  
"Boss! Boss! We got Sumtin'!"  
He was waving a small portable viewscreen, out of which the opulent face of General Traag looked out.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

TOY TALES 

**1988**

SEASON 1 –EPISODE TWO

"Choices"

"Boss!" cried Rocksteady, waving the communicator around like a flag.

Shredder stood stock still for a moment. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Krang swivel around, his eyes gleaming.

_It can't be! _Shredder thought. _Not after so long! _He had long ago given up any hope of contacting Krang's general. Shredder, the mighty ninja, the destroyer of turtles, stood unable to move in indecision. Krang squealed in astonishment, his eyes growing to the diameters of baseballs.

Shredder shook his head fiercely, rousing himself. He strode forward and snatched the communicator. There, framed in the miniscreen was General Traag, the rock soldier general. He was huge and a mercury-like red. His eyes were deep and soul-less. His mouth was moving, though no sound was coming out, only an incessant buzz of static. Shredder stared at him for a few seconds, but before he could try to make contact, Krang's gurgling voice stopped him.

"Shred-der- who is it?" The brain demanded.

"It's General Traag!" Shredder exclaimed, and in the briefest of seconds he saw a look pass over Krang's face. The rippling shadows from the candle threw his face in to shadow, confused his features, but for a moment Shredder saw a look he had seen before, long ago on the brain's face. Shredder remembered the times General Traag had come to help them on there campaigns against the turtles, and the expression Krang would have when he had given the rock soldier his instructions. Something like that expression had fleeted across Krang's face just now, a look of hopefulness, as if General Traag was going to come and sort everything out. But then like a window shutter snapping shut, the expression was quashed back into oblivion, and Krang's face contracted into the scowl he had had for months now.

"What has he to say-this General Traag!" The brain hissed, his eyes livid. "What has he to say about abandoning me?"

Shredder was taken aback. He had had no idea how Krang felt about the months of drifting with no power, and the rising hatred at everyone. At the fact that no one was coming to help them. Of course he had felt that too, but he knew that General Traag could not possibly know where they were without coming to their aid at once.

Shredder turned back to the minisecreen. The static was growing fainter and the screen was flickering. The General was no longer trying to speak, but was pointing at words that were scrolling along the bottom:

Lord Krang-Lord Krang-Are you there-If you can see this message-send a plasma flare up- 

The screen went dark. Shredder stared at it. Rocksteady was dancing around, coming dangerously close to knocking over the candle singing "Yahhaa General Traags a-comin' and we gonna be wescued!"

_Miserable mutant! _Shredder grabbed the rhino by the ear and threw him out of the room.

Then he turned to Krang.

"What is this way to Earth that you've found?"

Krang licked his fangs.

"YyyEshh- I have constructed a portal opener from the remnants of my body."

He handed Shredder a large device that looked like a fax machine.


	3. Chapter 4

TMNT

Krang glared at the candle, never blinking, letting the image burn into his retinas. The air was uncomfortably cool in the portal room, with the technodrome's heating system out of power. A loud beep indicated that the portal-opening mechanism was fully recharged. Krang grabbed the cubic device and put it on the portal control center. Typing in a few commands, he heard a high-pitched whine grow, louder and louder, as the portal was opened along the side of the room. The candle flickered and died, leaving the room in complete darkness for a few seconds. Then a vivid, intense blue light radiated from the portal wall, lighting up the whole room. Krang burbled in pleasure. He set the portal frequency to the Earth setting and pushed his walker through it.

**Bebop and Rocksteady were lurking in the doorway of the portal room, trying to see what Krang was up to. When they saw what Krang was up to, they jumped up, tripping over their own feet as they ran full tilt towards the portal, terrified of being left behind. With huge twin leaps, they dove through just as the portal closed.**

**Krang was blinking in the noon glare, trying to see. Finally his eyes adjusted to the brightness. **_**Hmm. **_**The brain seemed to be on the concrete sidewalk of a street. Krang looked up. The first thing he saw was an old lady with a shopping cart laden with groceries. She was staring at him in horror. Krang stared at her in horror, attempting a weak smile. The lady seemed to be speaking, convincing herself she was having a hallucination. She might have left if it was not for the unfortunate arrival of Bebop and Rocksteady, falling out of thin air in front of her, yelling. "MAKE WAY FOR BEBOP AND ROCKSTEEADYYYY!"**

**The lady screamed. "AAK! Monsters!" She pulled out an AK-47 from the one of the bags and kicked the shopping cart away. Krang moaned and covered his eyes. **_**Haven't I seen this episode before?**_** He grumbled silently.**

**BAMBAMBAM! The shop windows behind the dumbstruck mutants and the brain were blown inwards as the lady fired wildly. **

**"You fools!" the brain shrieked, now flailing his tentacles wildly "Pick me UP and RUN!"**

**The rhino and the warthog ran around in circles with their arms in the air for a few moments, the lady cackling madly. More windows blew in. Finally the mutants got their senses together and grabbed the brain, hotfooting it into an alleyway. The brain rolled his eyes in anger as the rhino cleared their way through brick walls by ramming though them, leaving clouds of destruction in their wake. Sirens began to cry. **

**"stop STOP STOPP!!!" Krang finally screamed. The rhino and the warthog carried the livid brain into an old abandoned warehouse and set him down on a rickety table.**

**Krang glared at them. "Why ARE you HERE?" he demanded. Rocksteady rolled his eyes around to Bebop, whose eyes were masked by his sunglasses. After a long pause, the warthog spoke. "Er er we wanted to come wid you krang!" he said. "Yeah" Rocksteady interjected. "We wanna trash some toitles!" The brain swelled up in anger, turning purple, but before he could berate them an idea came to them. **_**Perhaps these two buffoons can help me in my master plan! **_**Krang mused. **_**But I will need their loyalty first! **_**The brain forced his face into a smile. Bebop and Rocksteady exchanged glances. **

**"Excellent!" he finally said. " At least you to ARE at any rate, LOYAL. You are loyal aren't you?" Bebop and Rocksteady nodded vigorously. "Very well!" the brain continued. "You will help me in my master plan!"**

**"Will we get to trash some toitles boss?" Rocksteady asked. **

**Krang mouth twisted into a leer. "Oh yes, mutant, you are right. I will have my revenge on Saki, the turtles, and this entire MISERABLE planet! They will all die on the human's own bane, OIL! HAHAHAHAHAAA!!!"**

**To be continued**


	4. Chapter 6

TMNT

1988

EPISODE 5-"All Alone"

Shredder watched the black clouds overhead turn almost gray as a white ray of light broke through them. He watched as the beam of light, moving impossibly fast, shafted towards the ground. Shredder punched in a few commands, and the technodrome's outer hatch opened. He was now all set for when the Starmobile arrived, for that was what the ray of light had been.

Suddenly, the screen went blank. All the lights in the control panel went out, one by one. Shredder cursed and slammed his gauntleted fist on the control panel.

"Krang!" he yelled. _It could only be him! That foolish brain is trying to open a portal, draining us of power! _Shredder hovered in indecision, unsure whether to abandon his post or try to stop Krang. But the Starmobile was still far away, barely noticeable in the vast expanse of blackness, so Shredder kicked the trapdoor open and hurried down the stairs, muttering under his breath, for he had left the torch at the outpost. He ran down the corridors in complete darkness, with only the map in his head for direction, his boots clanging against the metal floor, and muffled thuds emanating when he banged into something, followed by furious screaming and stamping. The Shredder finally made it to Krang's room, gasping for breath. He looked inside but saw nobody. _Where is that blasted brain? _He thought. _Of course! The portal room! _Shredder took a spare torch from over Krang's viewscreen and ran down a long hallway that branched from Krang's room that led to the portal room. Far ahead, he could see a dim blue light. _He's done it! He's opened the portal! _

"NOO!!!" Shredder yelled, increasing his speed. NO. _He can't leave- not without me. Wait_. _Almost- there!_

"Krang! Wait for me!" he wailed, gasping for breath, clutching his side, unable to run but still stumbling forward.

"KRANG! WAIT!" Shredder could walk no further. Though it was freezing in the technodrome, sweat poured down his red face. Shredder fell on his knees and crawled forward, panting with excursion. He reached the doorway and watched the portal close, and the whine of the machinery fade away. Shredder stared unable to believe it. Krang had left. Bebop and Rocksteady had left, he knew, for he had seen their forms just before the portal had closed. They had all left. Left him all alone. All alone. In the complete darkness, for the first time in his life, Shredder cried.


	5. Chapter 7

TMNT

1988

EPISODE 5- part 2

"The Rehdiesium Crystal" 

**The room was completely dark. No flickering candles cast the slightest light across the scene. No bluish portal's corona of light penetrated the unfathomable, black gloom. Not anymore. It was impossible to tell the breadth of the room. Nothingness prevailed and was all that was there. Or so it seemed.**

**The Shredder stood alone, erect; facing the side of the room where he knew the dimensional portal had been only minutes before. His eyes were closed, and though he was physically in the room, mentally, he was not. Or to be more specific, mentally he **_**was **_**there, though at a period of time long before, years and years before, at a time when this very room had been brightly illuminated, the fluorescent lights whitening the vast expanse of the entire Technodrome. Shredder tried to see it but found he couldn't. It had been - so long. So the Shredder instead focused in on the memories of years long gone, by shifting through the pages of recollections as if reviewing a long forgotten book, focusing not on the setting of the tales, but of the characters. The Shredder focused on those characters, driving back the dread and the yawning expanse of the present situation. This was his only doorway off of the brink of insanity. The Shredder remembered Bebop and Rocksteady, the two bumbling mutants that he had always beleaguered for their stupidity, though now he rather missed them. No, he must not think of that time. Of **_**now.**_** Shredder frantically tried to remember Bebop and Rocksteady as he had viewed them before. But he was unable to focus on that outlook, and so turned to the only other living inhabitant of the Technodrome. Krang. Shredder remembered their early days, when Krang had taken charge and had disciplined him. Had also berated, insulted and constantly goaded him. The Shredder had hated him for that. Now, though, he missed the old Krang. The old Krang would be calling him an incompetent tin-faced moron. However, these days Krang's mind had become twisted and warped. He, Shredder had been one of Krang's few allies in the brain's fight against insanity, or his enemies, or whatever the brain blamed, Shredder could never be sure. However, now that Shredder had failed him… Shredder had no idea what the brain thought of him now, wherever he was. It was now that Shredder realized that his rumination had come around a full circle, surpassing an apex back, to **_**now**__**Now**_**. The Shredded felt as if he had broken through some kind of mental barrier within himself that dissuaded him from thinking clearly without panicking. Krang and Bebop and Rocksteady had all left. He was all alone. Shredder mentally chided himself, squaring his shoulders and opening his eyes into nothingness. **_**I can deal with this**_** he thought. **_**All right, since that befuddled brain and those two miserable mutants have flown the boat, they are no longer my allies. It is me who is in charge of this operation. ME! Insubordination, that's what it is! I don't need them, and if I see them ever again I'll do what I should have done all those years ago. Destroyed them! A ninja works alone, or not at all! All right, now that I've sorted that out, what next? All right, the Eye. No, General Traag will have arrived by now. I must greet him.**_

**Immersed in his plotting, the Shredder failed to hear the soft **_**Clunk, Clunk, Clunk **_**of heavy rock boots in the distance. However, even as the Shredders deliberations were concluded, he heard the echoes of the marching of Rock Soldiers drawing closer. The Shredder turned and faced the long line of heavily clad Rock Soldiers armed with flashlights as they formed a semicircle around him. The largest stepped forward. It was General Traag. He was even huger than Shredder had remembered. His eyes were deep and sunken. His voice when he spoke was harsh, deep, and grating. **

**"Shredder," he bowed slightly. "We meet again. Where is Lord Krang?"**

**The Shredder scrutinized him beadily. The Rock General seemed not to have the faintest idea of Krang's admonitions against him. The Shredder spoke, after a long pause.**

**"Gone. He took Bebop and Rocksteady to Earth." His voice caught for a moment, but Shredder masked the pause by clearing his throat and narrowing his eyes, banishing any further display of weakness. "He's gone to Earth to seek revenge on the turtles." **

**General Traag faltered, his deep-set eyes widening. All around the Rock Soldiers began to murmur in shock. Traag's eyes bulged. His metallic face contorted. Masks and facades danced for a moment across his features. Finally he managed to control himself, and held up one hand palm-out to silence the jittery rock soldiers. **

**He spoke, addressing Shredder, "If what you say is true, then he is gone. There is no time for us to stop our voyage to open a interdimensional gateway to retrieve him. Inwardly I myself revolt against this decision, but there is nothing we can do. We must have faith in Lord Krang."**

**Shredder felt a stab of hatred towards the blindly loyal devotion of Traag. What did he know about Krang's real feelings towards the Rock Soldier? **

**Despite himself, Shredder was interested. He leaned forward, listening closely. General Traag was speaking: "We will continue our voyage towards the –uh- power source so we can recharge our weaponry. Then we will meet up with our fleet, and on to destroy the Neutrino rebellion! The Shredder will come with us, unless he wishes not to?"**

**The Rock Soldier turned to him, and Shredder contemplated for a brief moment. What was left for him here? "Of course I'll come," he said firmly. General Traag nodded. "Tell me more about this power source." The Shredder demanded. He had not missed the hesitation in Traag's voice when he had mentioned it. General Traag looked shiftily, glancing around at his Lieutenants as if worrying they had overheard.**

**"Very well…" The Rock Soldier finally said. "Prepare the Starmobile." He snapped at his lieutenants, gesticulating at Shredder to follow him. Shredder complied, waving away two Rock Soldiers who moved to flank them. When they had walked a short distance from the departing Stone Warriors, General Traag turned to him. **

**"So. You wanted to know about the 'power source'? Very well. First I must tell you that this matter is of the most classified. Very few of my Lieutenants know about this venture. In fact, only my second-in-command knows. This information is not to be disclosed,"**

**The Shredder was captivated. "Why are you confiding in me?" He asked.**

**"Firstly, you are coming along with us, so you have a right to know. Secondly, you were Lord Krang's companion, and I hold Lord Krang's friends in high regard."**

**Shredder didn't open his mouth to contradict him. What would be the point? **

**"Thirdly, I've had my eye on you. You would be a valuable asset to my forces. You have all the qualities of a supreme Lieutenant. No, even more than that. I'll get straight to the point. How would you like to be my second-in-command?"**

**Shredder was taken aback. "Don't you already have one?"**

**The General paused. "I do, but I must confess that I have suspicions that she is plotting against me, in employ of my enemies. She will be neutralized in due time. Well, what do you say?"**

**The Shredder pretended to consider.**

**"I'll think about it. Now what was this about a power source? That isn't what you're after. You're hiding something from your Generals, aren't you?" he asked shrewdly.**

**"Yes, it is true." The General said, his eyes brightening up, burning like coals. "My expedition is to go to the Planet of the Andalites. It is an old legend of our race, from long ago. The myth speaks of a Crystal of immense nuclear energy, that can be harnessed to release a star's power!" The Rock Soldier leaned forward; his eyes shining still brighter, like yellow suns themselves. "I believe this story. It was handed down my ancestors by word of mouth eons before I was born. My late Great-Great-Grandfather was recently destroyed by laser-fire in the War, and his Will handed me the exact Galactic coordinates of this planet. I aim to find this Rehdiesium Crystal, and harness its power to finish the Neutrino Menace!"**

**Shredder didn't give a pig's ear about Neutrinos, but the idea of a sun-harnessing Crystal intrigued him.**

**General Traag continued: "My Second-in-command upon learning of this Crystal became very agitated indeed. I found her on many occasions stealing my personal notes on the subject, and poking around my office. This is why I do not want any of my Soldiers to find out about this Crystal. Greed will overcome them."**

**Shredder nodded, a plan already hatching inside his cynical mind. **_**Greed will overcome them. Heh. Heh. Heh. Little did he know. Little did he know…**_


End file.
